This invention relates generally to devices for fastening objects to metal supports and, more particularly, to a clip for clamping electrical conduit, pipe, tubing and other such objects to channel supports.
Electrical conduit, pipes, fixtures, etc. are commonly supported overhead or on side walls either vertically or horizontally by channel supports conventionally having side flanges with inwardly turned, hook-shaped lips defining a slot therebetween. While there are many different types of supports, one type is a U-shaped clip having legs formed with feet which are engageable with the inturned lips of the channel. A screw on the clip is tightened against a conduit or pipe received between the legs of the clip to draw the feet of the clip and the object being supported into clamping engagement with the lips of the channel. A support of this type is shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,429,440. One of the problems associated with this type of support, however, is that the clip has a tendency to swing side-to-side on the channel while the conduit or pipe is being positioned, which makes installation of the conduit or pipe more difficult, and often results in the support either becoming fully disengaged from (i.e., falling out of) the channel in the case of overhead channel, or dropping out of proper position relative to the channel in the case of channel mounted horizontally on a wall. Moreover, the cost of fabricating such clips has been relatively high.